Wood Owl Ultra Smooth Augers

The best. No notes.

Why yes, I do like Wood Owl Ultra Smooth augers. My complete set and one of my many 1" augers. The tool roll is from Texas Heritage (also a favorite).

The first time I ever heard about Wood Owl bits was in 2013. We were getting ready for the first French Oak Roubo Project down in Georgia, and I was worried about how we were going to make the deep mortises in the thick French oak.

Jameel Abraham, one of the organizers, told me this: “Buy some Wood Owl bits.”

“What diameter? Length?” I asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” Jameel said. “Just get some.”

I bought a bunch (they were difficult to find then, and they were expensive). I didn’t have time to try them out before I left for Georgia. So the first time I used one was while demonstrating in front of a dozen people how to break up the waste in the mortises in a benchtop.

It was like the wet and dense oak was made of balsa. I have never been more amazed by the way a bit worked. It just flew through the wood (I was using an underpowered DeWalt corded drill).

I used the bits all week, drilling many hundreds of holes. At the end of the event, the bits still worked like new.

Twelve years and thousands of holes later, I still have the same bits, and they still work like new. I don’t know what kind of steel Star M uses to make the bits. But it’s nearly indestructible and lightweight.

So, as you might have guessed, I like these bits.

The Ultra Smooth (left) and the Nail Chipper. You can see how the Ultra Smooth has rim cutters to make a cleaner entry hole. Both bits cut exceptionally well.

They come in three flavors: standard, nail chipper and ultra smooth. The “ultra smooth” bits cut a cleaner entry hole. The nail chippers are unstoppable. I haven’t use the standard bits.

All three kinds are coated in PTFE, so sap and chips don’t stick to the flutes. As a result, the bits clear themselves of gunk, which is one of the reasons they cut so fast. The bits are machined out of a solid blank of steel, an expensive process. The bits are perfectly balanced, with no wobble to speak of as you bore.

The Wood Owls have a 7/16" hex shank. So if you use an electric drill to drive them, you will need a 1/2" chuck. The bits fit well in all the braces we have here, including my Spofford (which was a pleasant surprise). They come in sizes from 3/8" up to 1-1/2", and a complete set is a house payment. But worth it.

The Wood Owls fit readily into the chuck of many braces, including this 6" Keen Kutter.

Today I use these bits for making mortises in thick chair seats and drilling deep holes for holdfasts in workbenches. And, whenever I build a workbench, the Wood Owls come out.

You are going to ask if they can be resharpened. I haven’t tried. Mine are still sharp. Wood Owl makes a special file for the operation, and the website says “can sometimes be resharpened.” So there you have it.